"And that, my lord, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped." "This new learning amazes me, Sir Bedevere. Explain again how sheep's bladders may be employed to prevent earthquakes." I couldn't help but think of that quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail as I read David Lindberg's essay on medieval science. Beneath the characteristic Python silliness lies a hint of what actually transpired among western European scholars of the Middle Ages. A New Learning was arriving in the form of classical texts and Arabic … [Read more...] about Science Book Club: When Science & Christianity Meet Ch 1
Book Review
Science Book Club: Quantum Physics and Theology Ch 5 & Review
Welcome to the fifth (and final) week of our blog book discussion on Quantum Physics and Theology by John Polkinghorne. We're going a chapter a week through the book with posts and discussion here (chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4). Since the final chapter is fairly brief, we'll cover it along with some overall thoughts to wrap up this discussion. … [Read more...] about Science Book Club: Quantum Physics and Theology Ch 5 & Review
Science Book Review: The War on Science
Reminder: We'll have a final video chat to discuss this book next Thursday evening (8/3 9pm EDT). For those just joining us, I've spent the past few weeks blogging through Shawn Otto's The War on Science, share my reactions and thoughts a couple of chapters at a time (Ch 1-2, Ch 3-4, Ch 5-6, Ch 7-8, Ch 9-10, Ch 11-13). I thought a useful way to cap that discussion would be to review and reflect on the book as a whole. Overall, I thought the book contained a lot of useful information and was admirable in its attempt … [Read more...] about Science Book Review: The War on Science
Book Review: A Glorious Dark, by A. J. Swoboda
A Glorious Dark: Finding Hope in the Tension Between Belief and Experience by A. J. Swoboda. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Press, 2015. Summary: An exploration of living in the tension of the glorious hope of Christian faith and the dark, unsettling realities of our lives through reflections grouped around the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of the Triduum of Holy Week. A great book to read reflectively during Holy Week [April 9 - 16, 2017]. … [Read more...] about Book Review: A Glorious Dark, by A. J. Swoboda
Open-Handed Communication: The Rhetoric of Christian Persuasion
In Os Guinness's recent apologetics book Fool's Talk, what role does rhetoric play? Literary scholar David Parry draws on his knowledge of classical and Christian rhetorical traditions to unpack one strand of Guinness's ideas about apologetics. To read David's other work for ESN, click here. “Do you know how you can act or speak about rhetoric so as to please God best?” (Socrates in Plato's Phaedrus)[1] The epigraph above is selected from the five pages of thought-provoking quotations that open Os … [Read more...] about Open-Handed Communication: The Rhetoric of Christian Persuasion